Lake Taup ö Fees Review

1. Lake Taupö Fees Review Philip King – Harbourmaster Stacey Hayward - Policy Analyst

2. Introduction • Harbourmaster Function • Lake Taupö Navigation Safety Bylaw 2010 • Lake Taupö Fees Review • Next steps

3. Harbourmaster Function • The Minister of Local Government is the harbour authority • The Harbourmaster function is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs and includes • enforcing navigational safety on Lake Taupö • managing and maintaining the Crown-owned facilities in a safe and usable condition • providing administration services for mooring sites, berths and ramp permits

4. Crown-owned facilities • Assets include • 17 ramps • 4 marinas • numerous jetties • The Department is responsible for administration and maintenance of the assets • The Crown is responsible for the replacement, enhancement and modernisation of the assets

5. Lake Taupö Navigation Safety Bylaw 2010 • Proposed amendments to the Bylaw include • new regulations requiring compulsory wearing of life jackets on jetskis • requirement for wearing life jackets on board recreational craft under 6 metres • registration of jetskis • requirement for vessels to be clearly identified • new reserved swim only areas for Kuratau and Ti Te Point

6. Lake Taupö Fees Review • Review undertaken in 2009 – 2010 • Considerations: • do current fees cover all costs? • should fees recover the cost of depreciation on the Crown-owned assets? • should the Crown’s annual payment to the Tūwharetoa Mäori Trust Board be recovered from fees?

7. Current funding • The Department receives $419,000 pa from the Crown • $385,000 operating • $34,000 capital

8. Current fees • Fees must be set on a cost recovery basis • Actual fees recovered in 2009 – 2010: • Ramp permits $147,000 • Mooring permits $22,000 • Berthing permits $120,000 • Total permits $289,000

9. Tūwharetoa Mäori Trust Board • Ownership of the lakebeds returned to the Tūwharetoa Mäori Trust Board in 1992 • The Crown is required to make an annual payment of $1.5 million to the Trust Board • This payment ensures continued public access to the Lake • $240,000 of the $1.5 million is for rental of the lake bed for the boating facilities

10. Fees review conclusions • The current fees are insufficient to cover the costs of: • ongoing maintenance of the Crown-owned assets • depreciation on the assets • annual rental ($240,000) to the Tūwharetoa Mäori Trust Board • To cover all of these costs will require an increase in fees of 116.43% • Regular fees reviews will be needed

11. Components of the increase • 17.71 - ongoing maintenance (blue) • 22.53 - cost of depreciation (maroon) • 76.19 - cost of annual rental to the Tūwharetoa Mäori Trust Board (yellow)

12. Market comparisons with proposed increase • The Department considered the fee regimes of 24 commercial and non-commercial marinas administered by 13 councils across the country and considered Kinloch marina’s fees • comparable with other fee regimes • comparative berths or ramp permits would be in excess of 100% more at Kinloch

13. Next steps • Submissions close 3 April 2011 • Consideration of written submissions • Cabinet paper for consideration of the proposed fee increase • Implementation of new fee increase comes into effect on 1 July 2011 • Ongoing communication on the Bylaw amendments and implementation of the fees increase